2024-25 Winnipeg Jets Season Preview

welcome back all right so I'm going to talk about the Winnipeg Jets now as I continue through the season previews and I want to throw in here at the start too the reason that I do the season previews when I do is once we get into late August we're almost up to training camp once training camp starts previews are but they they they draw flies uh there's there's nothing because once you're into training camp well you know who's where and you know what's going on and you have a better idea of things so this is just sort of a hey before training camp gets started look at guys who've changed teams and all this and really there's nothing Earth shattering that usually takes place between the middle of August and October nothing that completely changes the trajectory of teams going into The Following season so that's why I do the previews when I do them this is the ninth year I think that I've been doing previews so again this is The Sweet Spot in terms of time of year where I've do where I do this last year I did four previews per day this year I'm only doing two so I'm prolonging it a little bit and trying to delay some here and there which last year I didn't really do but anyways we're going to talk about winipeg let's get into this looking back to 2014 2015 up until now as I'm doing with all teams looking at their top 10 scorers uh Mark shley unsurprisingly leads the way very reliable scorer 723 games 283 goals 399 assists 682 points shley uh arguably their best forward during this time period arguably because even though they've got the points you could make an argument for a forward or two other than shley is being their best over that time Blake wheeler 664 Games 191 goals 430 assists 621 points Kyle Connor 531 games 243 goals 242 assists 485 points Nick eers 65 games 2011 goals 256 assists 457 points and there's always the argument over who the better forward is between Connor and eers I think it depends on what you're looking for uh I think Connor's the better scorer I think eers is probably the more well-rounded player but both of them are very good Josh morresy 582 games 66 goals 245 assists 311 points Patrick l 306 games 140 goals 110 assists 250 points uh Adam Lowry 72 games played 105 goals 134 assists 239 points Brian little 357 games 95 goals 135 assists 230 points Matthew perau makes the list 455 games 88 goals 142 assists 230 points and Dustin buffin there's a name I haven't said for a while in a video 341 games 62 goals 164 assists 226 points when it comes to their goenda and everybody else huk a record of 275 173 and 41 so he plays a ton of games Michael Hutchinson 41 38 and 11 Lauren bris 4022 and 5 Andre pavich 39 33 and 12 and Eric comry who's returned this year 128 And1 record over that time period so looking at the last five seasons Winnipeg middle of the road on a lot of these stats 586 points percentages 15th the goals for per game 3.05 that's 17th overall in the NHL goals against well that's your bread and butter especially when you got Connor huk in net 2.76 goals against per game that's fifth on average Over The Last 5 Years their power play at 20.3% that's 16th overall their penalty kill 78.5% 19th and at times that penalty kill need a little bit of work uh this past season they had a 671 points percentage good for fifth in the NHL their goals four per game 3.16 which was 15th uh their goals against 2.41 which was second and they went a long time almost half the season between allowing more than three goal Gos in a game so this is a team that knows how to play defense they know how to keep the puck out of their net their problem has been the playoffs uh they get off to that great start against Colorado and then it all fell apart after that so they need to work on that part of it their power play this past season 18.8% that's 22nd their penalty kill 77.1% that's 21st both of those numbers need to be improved this coming season we'll see if it happens or not now their top 10 scorers from this past season Mark shley 74 games 25 goals 47 assists 72 points he can pencil them in for around a point per game every year uh Josh morresy 81 games 10 goals 59 assists 69 points Nick heers 82 games 25 goals 36 assists 61 points Kyle Connor 65 games 34 goals 27 assists 61 points uh Cole Peretti one to keep an eye on because he's still not signed he's a restricted free agent 71 games 19 goals 19 assists 38 points vladov 78 games 11 goals 26 assists 37 points for namestnikov who's found a home in Winnipeg uh Mason Appleton now that I've said that he'll get traded uh but Mason Appleton 82 games 14 goals 22 assists 36 points and Gabe valard if he can stay healthy this year could really help them with the goals 47 games 22 goals 14 assists 36 points Adam Lowry 81 games 12 goals 23 assists 35 points and Nino Neer Rider 77 games 18 goals 16 assists 34 points pretty consistent offense from Neer Rider uh the top two goalies this past season haluk 371 19 and 4 921 safe percentage five shut outs uh brah 155 and 2 927 safe percentage and three shut outs brah of course making his exit and now kaan is very likely to be the backup for Winnipeg this season so for rookie watch I put two guys up there I put Brad Lambert and Chaz Lucius uh there are others though that could make their debut for Winnipeg this year there's some good young players this is part of the reason why you can do a swap uh and bring in Jagger and trade out mordi to make it work because there's some good young players here and one thing that you get with joerger he projects as a center whereas mcgi projected to be a Winger and this is a team that could use a a top two Center uh at some point in the near future so looking at their top 12 forwards you've got Kyle Connor Mark shley and Gabriel valard very likely to be that Top Line uh second line Nick eers either Adam Lowry or vladov get that second line Center spot and then Cole Peretti wants his RFA status to straightened out and they've got him signed uh very likely to get those top six minutes Nino Neer Rider Vlad namestnikov or again maybe Adam Lowry on that third line uh along with mas and Appleton Appleton U really in all honesty perfect on that third line for Winnipeg uh Morgan Baron David Guston and Alex aalo I guess on that fourth line the thing with aalo is that he can be prod he can definitely play higher than fourth line minutes so it'll be interesting to see how the battle goes for who gets which spot on the wings uh in in Winnipeg because again it feels like if can play third line or better at times uh their extras Rasmus Kari who of course was part of that trade for Dubois as well uh Kari hasn't hit at the NHL level yet Mason Shaw uh who did come back and play for Minnesota last year uh after a long time outside the National Hockey League uh Jared Anderson Dolan added there's some depth there Dominic Tony n again depth forward Brad Lambert and Chaz Lucius as previously mentioned those are rookie players that can jump into the lineup at some point this year Braden joerger uh he is signed we'll see whether or not he gets into any games for them uh Axel yanson feli we know what he provides them in terms of depth kby Barlo player I like as well so mcy and Barlo were two guys it was anxious to see how they how they play together for Winnipeg once they got there now I guess it's going to have to be Barlo and Ager that I'm looking forward to seeing playing for Winnipeg and Nikita chov as well so there's another rookie forward who might get into some games this year there's definitely some good young depth in this Winnipeg organization it's just a matter of developing it and see how things go beyond this coming season so their top six defenseman you're looking at Josh Mory Dylan Dello who had himself a career year this past season uh Dylan Samberg who's developing quite nicely for them and Neil pan who had a bit of a Down year for us by his standards we'll see how he does this coming season Colin Miller and Logan Stanley Stanley likely to be top six although you've also got Hayden flurry vill hola who's been waiting seemingly forever for his chance to get top six minutes and Dylan cogin as well so there's there's some depth there on the blue line I wouldn't be surprised to see them add maybe one more depth piece on the blue line before the season starts in net it is Connor haluck right something happens to huk you're looking at kappo kinan and Eric comry is your goaling tandem not ideal so I would think that hell's probably going to play 60 games this season just as at the very least 60 games maybe it ends up being 65 it's going to depend on what kind of goal tending COK kakenan gives them this coming season let me know your thoughts how many how many starts do you think heluk gets because again I think it's going to be 60 to 65 uh cap space again remembering Peretti out there but 5,776 39 Peretti shouldn't cost them that much uh his 19 goal season and being young I don't think he's going to cost them that much money uh but again it's a matter of how much term does he sign a show me like I'll prove it kind of detail deal of two years and and not a ton of money or does he look for that long-term deal and from Winnipeg's perspective are you trying to get them longterm or not so when we look at the schedule for the Winnipeg Jets at home uh five out of 10 games in October uh they're on the road for 9 out of 14 games in November so that road record is going to have to be good for them for them to be above the playoff line by the end of November we know how important being above the playoff line in November is technically in the National Hockey League around 80% of the teams that are above the playoff line by the American Thanksgiving usually are the ones that make the playoffs which is you know four out of five so there's still some room there but anyways um in February they have one away two at home then we have the four nations cup they have one away one home and two away so there's no really long road trips or long home stands there and again another team looking at a pretty balanced schedule overall uh the Stanley Cup odds plus 2600 so wi aeg's not seen as a favorite and this is where it's interesting to me so uh they were fifth in points percentage this past season they haven't really lost a main key part of this team but they're still not seen as a top contender in the National Hockey League and this is part of the the challenge of the Winnipeg Jets this is a team that I think has been underestimated for a very long time I think that underestimation is still on some level taking place but at the same time this is a team that when they've gotten to the playoffs they have not been able to get over that hump so that's going to cause people not to put their money down on them either but could they be a Canadian team that could go on a run maybe get to a Conference Final maybe further I think the potential is there you've got huk and net you've got morsey as the guy on the blue line and a pretty deep forward group it's just they they've got to overcome uh that that playoff delays they've had going on in Halu numbers the last couple of playoffs have not been fantastic either so the Channel vote 10% of the vote said first or second place in the division Alliance share of the vote saying third or fourth 68% of the vote saying third or fourth in the division so that's where people think they're going to end up uh 19% say fifth or sixth in the division and 4% don't like Winnipeg have them seventh or eighth in the division I don't think Winnipeg ends up seventh or eighth I'm honestly kind of kind of surprised 19% say fifth or sixth but we think this through logically you've got uh Dallas and Colorado are widely seen as the top teams you've got Nashville right there as well and then could St Louis jump past Winnipeg as crazy as that sounds maybe and maybe there's people that think that think that Utah is going to finish ahead of them so it's going to be a tough Division and Minnesota's right there too Minnesota has that potential to be a bit of a an upset candidate so we'll see where do you think Winnipeg ends up by the end of this coming season do you think they end up third or fourth uh do you think that they're going to be overrated because they were fifth this past season maybe they're underrated because they were fifth this past season and people are still picking them to drop and again that's fifth overall in the National Hockey League so let me know your thoughts in the comment section below regarding the Winnipeg Jets uh this coming season and what they might be able to do hit like And subscribe in the event that you've not done so already uh thank you guys so much for all your support it is greatly appreciated uh for those that watch these season previews I just I really enjoy doing the season previews and uh it it just it it gets me sort of into the swing of things going into the preseason and into training camp because it does kind of remind me too of oh right those guys are on those teams all right I'm set I'm good to go but thanks again for all your support I will talk to you guys soon enough